ABB Wows Packed Amphitheatre Articles / Music Posted by Lana on Oct 02, 2001 - 07:14 PM By Malcom X Abram The Macon Telegraph 8/10/2001 It was my intention to catch all three of the acts - Susan Tedeschi, Phil Lesh and Friends and the Allman Brothers Band - performing last Sunday at Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre, which you may recall was still called Lakewood Amphitheatre last time the Brothers played there in Atlanta in 1999. Hmmm ... Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre. Sounds much more inviting than Lakewood, doesn't it? Kinda makes ya want to go out and by a car stereo or DVD player, right? As I said, I'd hoped to see everyone, but by the time I got through all the traffic on Interstate 75 (a helicopter landed on the freeway!) and found a place to park ($20!) and made the lengthy walk to the actual amphitheater, Ms. Tedeschi had already played and Phil Lesh and his Friends were already well into their set. Despite my Bay Area origins, my knowledge of Grateful Dead tunes is based more on aural osmosis (various Grateful Dead Hours on the radio, New Year's Eve television specials) than any sustained study of the band's music. And my only live Dead experience was a concert at Oakland's Henry J. Kaiser Center sometime in the '80s that I frankly, uhh, don't recall too clearly. So, all I can tell you about their set (which lasted well over two hours) was that both guitarists Jimmy Herring and Warren "Marathon Man" Haynes played well, and bassist/leader Phil Lesh takes a back seat to no one. His bass lines twisted and turned as much as the guitarists, with drummer John Molo and keyboardist Rob Barraco just as active. Their jams rolled and tumbled freely, with grooves that gradually transformed from one song/jam into another and sometimes back again. The three-part harmonies were consistently tight (I'd love to hear them sing "Attics of My Life"), and I did recognize a laid-back "Sugaree" as well as a Susan Tedeschi sung "Turn on Your Lovelight" and an encore reggae take on Warren's "Soulshine." The presence of Phil & Friends seemed to ratchet up the neo-hippie quotient considerably, and if you were looking for a party, then the outer reaches of the amphitheater lawn was the place to be. From my seat, I could see a dazzling array of colorful clothing with wet arms and legs sticking out, joyfully squirming and squiggling to the music while the stench of spilled beer mixed freely with the aroma of various grades of cheeba, cigarettes and mud, mud, mud. Speaking of mud, I'd like to take a quick break to talk about hygiene. I realize that part of the neo-hippie aesthetic has to do with being one with Mamma Earth and all that, but really, people, there's no good reason to walk barefoot into a men's room anywhere, at any time, ever. Anyway, at 9 p.m. sharp, the Brothers took the stage, and the first thing that occurred to me was that the front four (Gregg Allmann, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes and Oteil Burbridge) appeared to stand closer to one another than the front four of 1999. They started with an uplifting "Revival," went into "Statesboro Blues," with the entire audience singing along, and kept the momentum going with "Don't Keep Me Wonderin'." Then Derek and Warren engaged in a great little unaccompanied slide duel, with each playing a few blues-filled notes and throwing it back and forth with a natural telepathy. That led into a Warren-sung "Hootchie-Cootchie Man." Then Gregg introduced Chuck Leavell to play on a new song called "Desdemona," a slow blues tune with a jazzy middle section in 3/4, just right for Leavell to turn in a typically great solo. Naturally, "Jessica" came next, and with Chuck playing a gospel-tinged solo, nobody seemed to mind the absence of the song's author. Throughout the lengthy set, the band's energy level was high. And despite having already played nearly three hours, Warren never repeated himself, and I have yet to hear Derek have a bad set. Among the guests brought out were Widespread Panic/New School Gov't Mule's Dave Schools and Jimmy Herring and percussionist Count M'Butu, who all contributed to a funky set closing, "One Way Out." During the requisite break before the encore, lighters, flashlights and laser pointers filled the amphitheater (that tradition never gets old), and when the band returned and Derek played the first few notes of "Mountain Jam," the crowd erupted. Chuck returned to play a rather angular, speedy solo, and Oteil amazed the crowd with a beautiful, unaccompanied bass arrangement of "Georgia On My Mind," which all led back to another fine slide duel, complete with Warren imitating bird calls and other odd sounds, bringing it all to a satisfying close 28 minutes later. - Malcolm X Abram is the entertainment writer for The Macon Telegraph. He can be reached at 744-4251 or by email at mabram@macontel.com This article is from Hittin' The Web with The Allman Brothers Band   https://hittintheweb.com/ The URL for this story is:   https://hittintheweb.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=35